The 20th annual Amber tournament held in Monaco last month was the last in the series. The event, which pits twelve of the top players in the world against each other in blindfold and rapid chess has attracted the cream of the chess world for the last two decades. The reason is the extremely lucrative prize fund and the fact that the games have no bearing on international rankings, removing any risk from participating. Meanwhile the fans get to witness the sort of gaffs and pratfalls from their heroes that you can see in amateur games.
In this final edition, two players clearly dominated. Armenian Levon Aronian and Norwegian Magnus Carlsen quickly established leads in the Blindfold and Rapid sections respectively. Each won their subtournament with a round to spare. Aronian finished with 8½/11 in the Blindfold and Carlsen with a record-breaking 9½/11 in the Rapid, 2½ points clear of Aronian in second. Overall first place went to Aronian on a combined score of 15½/22, a point ahead of Carlsen, and world champion Vishy Anand third on 13.
The only player to have played all 20 editions of the Amber tournament is Ukrainian veteran Vassily Ivanchuk. Today's game is from the tenth round at Monaco, in which he is Black against Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Both players were out of the running due to a poor start, so treated this as something of an exhibition game.
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 c6 7.Qc2 O-O 8.O-O b6 Kramnik is extremely comfortable in Catalan positions, so this is a natural choice for him in a Blindfold game, but Ivanchuk had something prepared... 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.Bf4 Bb7 11.Ne5 Rc8 12.Nc3 Nh5 13.Bc1 f5 14.Qa4 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Qc7!? Ivanchuk's new idea. Black targets the e5 pawn and ignore his own attacked pawn on a7, which appears too dangerous to capture. White takes up the challenge, but afterwards thought 16 Bf3 was better. 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Qxa7!? Bc5 Trying to win the queen by 17...Ra8? is refuted by 18 Nxd5! exploiting the pin on the b7 bishop – a recurring theme in the next few moves. 18.Bf3 f4! The knight is immune thanks to 19 Bxh5? Ra8 winning the queen for real this time. The threat of 19...fxg3 is serious. 19.g4 Ng3!! A truly amazing move considering the players are playing without sight of the pieces. If now 20 hxg3 fxg3, again 21...Ra8 is threatened. If White extracts the queen by 21 Qa4 then 21...Qxe5 leads to a ferocious attack. The alternative 21 Nxd5!? exd5 22 Qxb7 Qxb7 23 Bxd5+ Qxd5 24 Rxd5 Rxf2 also favours Black. So White seeks to complicate in the mutual darkness. 20.b4!? Ra8?! The first inaccuracy: 20...Bxb4! 21 hxg3 fxg3! 22 Nxd5 exd5 23 Qxb7 Qxb7 24 Bxd5+ Qxd5 25 Rxd5 gxf2+ is even better for Black than the similar line in the previous note. 21.Nxd5! Nxe2+! 22.Kf1 Rxa7 23.Nxc7 Bxf3 24.Nxe6?! Nc3? Too much chaos on board baffles even Ivanchuk. Here 24...Bxb4! 25 Nxf8 Kxf8 26 Bb2 Bxg4 leaves Black with the clear advantage of bishop and knight against rook. The text wins a piece, but White gets more than adequate compensation when the neglected b-pawn turns into a monster. 25.bxc5! Nxd1 26.cxb6 Ra4 27.Nxf8 Kxf8 28.Rb1 --- Making sure of the draw. The winning attempt by 28 a3!? keeping the black rook from the second rank was not without risk. 28.--- Rxa2 29.b7 Rxf2+ 30.Ke1 Re2+ 31.Kf1 --- Obviously 31 Kxd1?? Rb2+ wins for Black, so a forced draw by perpetual check provides a fitting end to an exciting game, played courageously by both players. 31.--- Rf2+ 32.Ke1 Drawn
Lights out for Amber tournament
Problem: White to play and mate in 3.
The 20th annual Amber tournament held in Monaco last month was the last in the series. The event, which pits twelve of the top players in the world against each other in blindfold and rapid chess has attracted the cream of the chess world for the last two decades. The reason is the extremely lucrative prize fund and the fact that the games have no bearing on international rankings, removing any risk from participating. Meanwhile the fans get to witness the sort of gaffs and pratfalls from their heroes that you can see in amateur games.
In this final edition, two players clearly dominated. Armenian Levon Aronian and Norwegian Magnus Carlsen quickly established leads in the Blindfold and Rapid sections respectively. Each won their subtournament with a round to spare. Aronian finished with 8½/11 in the Blindfold and Carlsen with a record-breaking 9½/11 in the Rapid, 2½ points clear of Aronian in second. Overall first place went to Aronian on a combined score of 15½/22, a point ahead of Carlsen, and world champion Vishy Anand third on 13.
The only player to have played all 20 editions of the Amber tournament is Ukrainian veteran Vassily Ivanchuk. Today's game is from the tenth round at Monaco, in which he is Black against Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Both players were out of the running due to a poor start, so treated this as something of an exhibition game.
1.Nf3 Nf6
2.c4 e6
3.g3 d5
4.d4 Bb4+
5.Bd2 Be7
6.Bg2 c6
7.Qc2 O-O
8.O-O b6
Kramnik is extremely comfortable in Catalan positions, so this is a natural choice for him in a Blindfold game, but Ivanchuk had something prepared...
9.Rd1 Nbd7
10.Bf4 Bb7
11.Ne5 Rc8
12.Nc3 Nh5
13.Bc1 f5
14.Qa4 Nxe5
15.dxe5 Qc7!?
Ivanchuk's new idea. Black targets the e5 pawn and ignore his own attacked pawn on a7, which appears too dangerous to capture. White takes up the challenge, but afterwards thought 16 Bf3 was better.
16.cxd5 cxd5
17.Qxa7!? Bc5
Trying to win the queen by 17...Ra8? is refuted by 18 Nxd5! exploiting the pin on the b7 bishop – a recurring theme in the next few moves.
18.Bf3 f4!
The knight is immune thanks to 19 Bxh5? Ra8 winning the queen for real this time. The threat of 19...fxg3 is serious.
19.g4 Ng3!!
A truly amazing move considering the players are playing without sight of the pieces. If now 20 hxg3 fxg3, again 21...Ra8 is threatened. If White extracts the queen by 21 Qa4 then 21...Qxe5 leads to a ferocious attack. The alternative 21 Nxd5!? exd5 22 Qxb7 Qxb7 23 Bxd5+ Qxd5 24 Rxd5 Rxf2 also favours Black. So White seeks to complicate in the mutual darkness.
20.b4!? Ra8?!
The first inaccuracy: 20...Bxb4! 21 hxg3 fxg3! 22 Nxd5 exd5 23 Qxb7 Qxb7 24 Bxd5+ Qxd5 25 Rxd5 gxf2+ is even better for Black than the similar line in the previous note.
21.Nxd5! Nxe2+!
22.Kf1 Rxa7
23.Nxc7 Bxf3
24.Nxe6?! Nc3?
Too much chaos on board baffles even Ivanchuk. Here 24...Bxb4! 25 Nxf8 Kxf8 26 Bb2 Bxg4 leaves Black with the clear advantage of bishop and knight against rook. The text wins a piece, but White gets more than adequate compensation when the neglected b-pawn turns into a monster.
25.bxc5! Nxd1
26.cxb6 Ra4
27.Nxf8 Kxf8
28.Rb1 ---
Making sure of the draw. The winning attempt by 28 a3!? keeping the black rook from the second rank was not without risk.
28.--- Rxa2
29.b7 Rxf2+
30.Ke1 Re2+
31.Kf1 ---
Obviously 31 Kxd1?? Rb2+ wins for Black, so a forced draw by perpetual check provides a fitting end to an exciting game, played courageously by both players.
31.--- Rf2+
32.Ke1 Drawn
1/2-1/2
Solution: 1 Nf6+! Bxf6 2 Rg7+ Kf8 3 h8=Q#.